That Damn Afghan...

...has resurfaced again in today's picture montage!  It's for episode #383 w/Jeremiah and Josette at their honeymoon spot.  She's looking frantic and he's trying to comfort her, and there, on the bed...is the AFGHAN!!  Did they take it w/them?  LOL! 

I keep trying to get people to accept the fact that it's not really the SAME afghan:

... some people may want to believe that it's the same afghan that's baring witness to centuries of trials, tribulations and tragedy, but I'm here to tell you at last that is quite simply not the case. No, no, no, no! The sad and unbridled truth is that there were possibly thousands of afghans produced with that same exact pattern in Collinsport because it was the only pattern the people of the area were able to come up with and successfully execute. The idea that seemingly the same afghan shows up so often is an errorenous one due simply and unequivocally to a colossal lack of imagination and talent on the part of the afghan makers in Collinsport. Sorry, but that's the reality. Face up to it. Accept it. Live with it.

But seemingly people refuse to believe it - or that the afghan makers in Collinsport were so lacking in imagination and talent. 

Does anyone have a good closeup picture of that afghan?  I'd like to get a good look at it.
Ya know, there IS a different afghan that shows up in 1970 PT.  The colors are pretty yucky -- reminiscent of the lovely colors in Quentin's famous jacket everyone loves.

Ya know, there IS a different afghan that shows up in 1970 PT.  The colors are pretty yucky -- reminiscent of the lovely colors in Quentin's famous jacket everyone loves.

Afghans with that pattern show up in a few different storylines - I recently spotted one on Angelique's bed while watching 1795:

But word has it that (whispers) they're imported from Logansport, where the afghan makers have even less imagination and talent than those in Collinsport. (end whispers) 

I agree that its color scheme is pretty yucky - but I would have worn PT-Quentin's sport coat every day of my life back in the '70s before I would have had that afghan anywhere in my house! 

Hey, don't diss the sacred afghan!  As I've said before, it's THE design metaphor for Dark Shadows:  the show would cease to exist without it.  I'm not surprised at all that it appeared in such a crucial episode, but really, guys, it's omnipresent.  Even if you don't see it, it's sure to be there in spirit.
   Ah, just wanted to use one of those cool smileys.

I keep trying to get people to accept the fact that it's not really the SAME afghan:

... some people may want to believe that it's the same afghan that's baring witness to centuries of trials, tribulations and tragedy, but I'm here to tell you at last that is quite simply not the case. No, no, no, no! The sad and unbridled truth is that there were possibly thousands of afghans produced with that same exact pattern in Collinsport because it was the only pattern the people of the area were able to come up with and successfully execute. The idea that seemingly the same afghan shows up so often is an errorenous one due simply and unequivocally to a colossal lack of imagination and talent on the part of the afghan makers in Collinsport. Sorry, but that's the reality. Face up to it. Accept it. Live with it.

But seemingly people refuse to believe it - or that the afghan makers in Collinsport were so lacking in imagination and talent. 

I must respectfully disagree MB, it's a CONSPIRACY see??!!  They are trying to drive us mad by relocating the SAME afghan!  AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!   HEE-HEE-HEE-HEE-HEE-HEE-HEE! 

I agree that its color scheme is pretty yucky - but I would have worn PT-Quentin's sport coat every day of my life back in the '70s before I would have had that afghan anywhere in my house! 

So would I !  (Especially if Quentin were in it)

THAT'S the afghan all right!
See?

Does anyone have a good closeup picture of that afghan?  I'd like to get a good look at it.
Ya know, there IS a different afghan that shows up in 1970 PT.  The colors are pretty yucky -- reminiscent of the lovely colors in Quentin's famous jacket everyone loves.

I think in PT there was an effort to make it look different from RT by using colors or color combinations that are odd or jarring to us.    I remember a lot of blue and green together which looks tacky to me, but might not to PT eyes.      More bow ties.    Stokes with a bright bow tie and a black shirt at one point I think.   It's even in PT 1841, where the colors are brighter, with a lot of blue and green.

This may be obvious to everyone else, but I've heard no one mention it, so I'm mentioning it here.

I believe that using a crocheted granny-square  blanket in the 1795 scenes may have been anachronistic...  Until the 1800s if I'm not mistaken, crochet mostly existed as a means of reparing knitted items, catching lost stiches, etc.  Crochet as an independent entity apparently orginated as a variation of tambour embroidery nearer to 1800, but not yet so developed as to make large items.  Irish lace crochet with fine threads was popularized in the mid-1800s.  Nuns often taught it to poor girls as a way to imitate fancy woven laces and thus earn them some kind of living, and it caught on from there.

The original "afghan stitch" according to my numerous needlework books, is more a combination of crochet, knitting, and weaving, making a fabric rather than filet netting or open-laced motifs, of which granny squares are obviously a variation.  Using chunky yarn remnants in the granny pattern, not sure when that came about--- more common in the later part of the 19th century, though.  In any case, a rich variety of colors wouldn't have been available in those days. (But then again, probably neither were the blue bed sheets DS used!)

The kind of blankets most popular in the 18th century were woven, or traditional patterned patchwork quilts, or  "candlewicked" quilts, where wicking was worked into a raised pattern on a monchromatic background and then tufted.  Inexpensive machine-made versions of the latter were still being sold in the 1960s--- my parents had one on their bed, I remember.  Maybe Ohrbach's didn't sell those?  Still, how nice someone used the afghans, wherever they came from, and "immortalized" them.  Even a simple afghan of bedspread size could take MONTHS to complete.

     Thank you, D Friedlander for some history on this poor piece of abused fabric.  I am an avid knitter and crocheter.  Afghans take many hours of work to complete.  I have a knitted or crocheted blanket in every room.  Some color combinations that looked good in the past can definitely date the poor afghan.  My grandmother crocheted the many colored granny afghan that looked like the one some times seen in Maggie's living room.  She did it to use up leftovers from many other projects.  I hate working on granny squares because I hate to have to sew them together.  I currently have a granny square afghan completed sitting in four shopping bags because I just don't want to sew the darn thing together.  I finished it in 1995.

it's a CONSPIRACY see??!!  They are trying to drive us mad by relocating the SAME afghan!

If that were to be true (and I'm not conceding that it is, mind you ), it would mean that the biggest mystery that DS left unsolved was not Vicki's parentage, not whether Angelique was Miranda's reincarnation or whether the two were one and the same, not even whether Barnabas was still a vampire in 1971 - but how did the afghan so completely retain its vibrant colors while continually being used by so many different people in so many different locations throughout the various centuries?! After all, something like Clorox® II color safe bleach wouldn't be invented until long after the events we witnessed on the original DS took place. 

Nay, I find it impossible to believe that even the most magical spell could have kept one single afghan always looking so fresh and breathtakingly splendid...

Thank heaven you acted as Mysterious Benefactor to Clorox and protected their copyright with that R symbol I wouldn't be able to reproduce on my keyboard if my life depended on it!

There is no escape from that afghan.  It is even mentioned in fan fiction.

There is no escape from that afghan.  It is even mentioned in fan fiction.

LOL!  I used it in mine!  It made a brief, but celebrated appearance.  It's not my fault!  It was the Official Collins Afghan!  What else could I do?
Judy

It was the Official Collins Afghan!  What else could I do?

You could have held a seance to learn why it was haunting you.